Take My Husband’s Brain — Please!

By Katherine Hobson

As the WSJ reports, the $55 million project — funded by the Allen Institute for Brain Science — provides “the first interactive research guide to the anatomy and genes that animate the mind.” But the new information is based on the analysis of two brains, both male.

We wondered why, given that women make up more than half the population. Allan Jones, chief executive of the Allen Institute, tells the Health Blog that in general, it was difficult to find brains that met their strict criteria — that is, that are unaffected by disease and are “normal” in every way except they’re no longer functioning.

Eligible donors usually die from accidental causes or cardiac arrest, both of which disproportionately affect men.

Moreover, there’s a sociological element at work, says Jones. The brains of deceased people who have indicated they’re willing to be organ donors are screened for their suitability by the medical examiner’s office, but the next of kin have to agree before they can be donated to a brain bank. If a woman dies, her husband is less likely to agree to the brain donation than in the opposite case, Jones says. ‘It’s just one of those things.”

After working with two brain banks for the “last couple of years,” only about six or seven brains were fully eligible for the project, Jones says. And all were male.

Good news, though. The project is currently processing a female brain, using a different technique, in the second phase of the atlas.

Jones says that of course there are differences between the male and female brain. But “it’s going to be a little challenging” to identify them in this project, unless they’re very distinct. Since the atlas is using such a small number of brains, it’s focusing on the similarities rather than the differences between the brains.

According to the brains analyzed, two people are 94% alike in how strongly or weakly different genes expressed themselves.